Press Release

Contacts

Open Source for the Enterprise: A Guide to the Benefits, Risks, and Responsibilities of Using Open Source

If using open source were as easy as simply installing
Linux and learning to use a few free tools and applications, the world
would have completely converted to open source by now. Certainly, the
benefits of using open source are attractive and significant: "Becoming
the sort of IT department that can successfully use open source means
empowerment, saving hard dollars, and ensuring freedom from captivity to
vendors," observe Dan Woods and Gautam Guliani, authors of Open Source for the Enterprise (O'Reilly, US $22.95). Large and small businesses
alike that are enticed by open source's possibilities--saving money on
license fees, reducing support and integration costs, gaining access to
the functionality of thousands of programs, and much more--must
necessarily hesitate when they consider its incumbent risks and
responsibilities.

"IT departments are waking up to the profound opportunities open source
provides to save money and better serve the business. In Open Source for
the Enterprise, I try to explain what open source is, how it is different
from enterprise software, and how IT departments can take advantage of it
by building skills and implementing new governance processes to control
adoption," explains Woods.

Woods and Guliani describe their book as "a sober reflection and a
pragmatic approach to an ocean of opportunity." Written from an IT
department's perspective, Open Source for the Enterprise is organized
around the common problems facing those who struggle in the trenches.
Rather than plunging into the popular, spirited debate of why open source
is superior to proprietary software, the authors offer an intelligent
discussion aimed to help technology and business executives determine
whether they can benefit from using open source in their environments.

"Companies that learn how to take advantage of open source software will
have an advantage over those that do not," Woods and Guliani explain.
"Information technology departments that build the skills needed to put
open source to work alongside existing systems will serve their companies
better than those that do not. This book aims to be a guide to the
challenges IT departments will encounter when they undertake this
journey."

As Woods and Guliani point out, in order to make open source work,
businesses will need to have a clear understanding of what open source is
and what it is not. They'll need to understand the fully loaded costs of
using open source and have a strategy for acquiring and maintaining the
needed skills. This will involve crafting a hybrid tack of open source and
commercial software that makes sense for the organization. Open Source
for the Enterprise approaches these and other issues in ten succinct
chapters, beginning with a discussion of the nature of open source; the
book concludes with a series of appendixes that identify the most
promising open source applications. Other topics covered are:

The open source skill set

Making the ROI case

Designing an open source strategy

Support models for open source

Open source under attack

A comparison of open source licenses

"Open source should play some role in most IT departments, including
yours," notes Woods. "This book will show you how to get it right--not
through reckless enthusiasm, but through prudence, patience, and a
methodical search for the risks and ways to remedy them."

About O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.